Change Comes to Cochabamba

“In Bolivia we have a lot of abandoned mothers, young mothers, single mothers, young women who got pregnant and their parents mistreat them,” laments Pastor Vitalio Flores.

Pastor Flores has lived in areas surrounding Cochabamba, Bolivia, all of his life. He has witnessed firsthand how casual attitudes toward premarital sex and promiscuous behaviors have perpetuated a seemingly endless cycle of single motherhood and poverty. He feels that by helping needy mothers in the community, he can speed an end to poverty’s destructive grip. That’s why his church houses the Chulla Child Survival Program.

“We have to help people in their greatest need,” says Pastor Flores. “When we do, it will never be forgotten. Mothers attending the program here are learning so much — how to care for their babies, how to read and write, even how to earn their own income. Many of them are getting to know God very well and transforming their lives.”

Pastor Flores sees the biggest influence in the next generation. “Children in the program are learning the Word of God and starting out on the right track. Proverbs 22:6 says if we instruct a child in the way he should go, he will never depart from it. That’s the lasting impact of this program.”